Thirteen Isn't Just A Lucky Number
by applythepressure
Summary: The Midnighters have to find and train others like themselves while fighting the bold darklings at the same time. Will they succeed or will past differences, grudges, and issues resurface and tear the team apart? This story is post Blue Noon. [A]
1. Chapter 1

Thirteen Isn't Just A Lucky Number

Disclaimer: I don't own the Midnighters trilogy, I don't own the blue time, I don't own the Midnighters, I don't own the darklings, and I don't own anything else. All belong to Scott Westerfeld.

Author's Note- Hello, fellow readers. Imagine my surprise when I found out that there was a Midnighters category on I just read this trilogy and thought it was amazing. Hope you enjoy!

In case you haven't read the trilogy, I suggest you read it because it's too hard for me to explain and you definitely won't understand what's going on.

**Ch. 1**:

"Theoretically Reverberating Manifestation!" shouted Dess as she flung the crowbar at the panther with all her might. It hissed through the air and hit its mark. Blue sparks flew and the panther scampered away, limping from the blow. Melissa shouted that a winged slither was coming from behind, but Dess was ready. "Exponentially Controversial Juxtaposition!" The winged slither reeled from the hammer expertly thrown by Dess. Dess could hear the other Midnighters screaming thirteen- and thirty-nine-letter words, the clash of steel on slither, and the flapping and yelping of slithers.

"Contentiously!" Nails flew into a patch of slithers.

"Intentionally Conscientious Crystallizing!" A hubcap landed smack on a snake transforming into a panther. It screeched a screech like nails on a chalkboard.

"Hallucinating!" Paper clips showered on winged slithers from above. Jonathan, the acrobat of the group, led the air attack. Jessica, who gained his midnight gravity through touching him, was waving her flashlight, Authoritative, around. _While she's killing darklings, could she at least try to keep the light outta my face? It's killing me! _

"More of them are coming," shouted Melissa above the din. _The bitch goddess speaks once again._ Dess still didn't forgive Melissa completely for ripping her mind apart to find out where Rex was taken by those stupid daylighters. _Thank God she has to listen to everyone's thoughts, not me. Humans are way too hard to decipher; at least math gives you straight answers._

"Devastatingly International Configuration!" Rex whipped his chain of thirty-nine links around a darkling's paw. However, he was barely able to say the words due to his darkling side. Dess tried to send feel-good vibes to Rex. That whole Halfling ordeal must have been tough.

"Dimensionally Comprehensive Entertainment!" Melissa took a bar stolen from the dump and lugged it at a particularly large slither lumbering towards Rex.

"Qualitatively!"

"Environmental!"

"Industrialize!"

Slithers and Midnighters alike continued to scream and shout, making a noise so loud that it would wake the entire town of Bixby. That is, it would wake the entire town of Bixby if everyone wasn't frozen in time right now. The five Midnighters were on their own.

"They're retreating, they're retreating!" repeated Rex and Melissa. Dess looked around and then checked her wind-up watch. _Well, duh, it's like two minutes until the secret hour is over. I don't expect they would want to hang around when everyone comes back to life. _

"Jonathan, get down before midnight ends and you end up breaking your whole body," said Dess. Jonathan had a fleeting look of disappointment before descending with Jessica in toe. She mercifully switched off her flashlight. "Now, since no one is going to get killed by falling 100 feet, how do you suppose we get home?"

Rex shrugged. "We'll use Melissa's car. She had the foresight to bring it before midnight started in case we run into trouble and couldn't use Jonathan as our personal taxi."

"I'm grateful to be of service," Jonathan said sarcastically. As he finished his sentence, a quiet shudder rumbled throughout Bixby. The ghostly and eerie blue glow faded and natural color flooded back. Dess sat down, exhausted from the fight. _I better get working on some more weapons. We used up a lot of them tonight._

Dess got up, momentarily dizzy. "Guys, I'll just walk home. My house isn't far from here. You guys better get moving before the police show up and get you for breaking curfew. See ya later." Dess turned and started walking home. _I'm so tired. I hope my parents left the door unlocked._ As she reached her home, she carefully tried the doorknob. _Thank God, it's open._ Dess crept in as quietly as she could. She made it to her room, barely registering the fact that she would have to make a steel raid very soon. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Author's PS – How was it, Midnighters fans? Reads and reviews welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

Thirteen Isn't Just A Lucky Number

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Every iota of ideas and characters belong to Scott Westerfeld.

Author's Note- Thanks to charmed-freak292 for the review. I hope all you Midnighters fans like the story so far.

**Ch. 2**:

Dess woke up the next morning feeling like she'd been hit by a bus. Correction. It felt like she had been hit with two buses full of slithers. She groaned and rolled over to look at her alarm clock, which read 10:46 in blinking red lights. _Thank God I don't have school. There is no way possible to make me get up from my nice, comfy, cozy bed._

"Ring, ring, ring!" The annoying sound of Dess's cell phone cut through the silence of the room. _Damn it. The cosmos must have it out for me. And knowing my luck, it'll be Rex freaking out about how we need to fight the darklings._

Dess grudgingly got out of bed and answered her phone. "Hello, this better be good," she snapped. She was definitely not happy about this.

"Dess? It's Rex. I'm just calling to tell you that we're meeting behind the school in an hour to discuss how we need to fight the darklings. I'll see you there. Bye." Rex hung up. _I rest my case. Who needs Melissa? We just need my dead-on intuition._

Dess sighed. "After the meeting, I seriously need to go on a steel raid. Those damn darklings cleaned me out." She sighed again. _Oh, well. I'll worry about that after I take my shower._

Thirty minutes later, Dess was dressed and ready to go. Her trusty bike was chained outside the door and she even had a list of new thirteen and thirty-nine letter words and phrases for the group. _I better get major kudos for this. It sapped all the brainpower I had left after that rumble._

Dess continued on her way to the school. _Good idea Rex picked this place; absolutely no one would be here in the summer. At least he's good for something other than ordering us around._ Dess spotted the Midnighters. But something looked wrong. Rex was shaking Melissa. Who was on the ground. Unconscious. Out cold.

Even though Dess had not completely forgiven Melissa, she wasn't about to just leave her there. She jumped off her bike and ran to the group. "What happened? What's going on? And why the hell is Melissa out cold on the grass?" Dess's thought were jumbling in her mind. _What is going on? Melissa never goes like this even if there were many people intruding on her mind. I mean, she never fainted at school. Or walking downtown in the height of Christmas shopping. _

Dess saw Jess and Jonathan trying to revive Melissa. "Go get cold water, smelling salts, or both. Make sure you make it quick," she told them. They nodded and left without a word. _Melissa, after all you did to me, you better get your conscious butt back here right now. You're starting to even freak me out more than you did before._

Suddenly, Melissa's eyes fluttered open. "Help," she said, but it wasn't her voice. It was the voice of another girl. Dess was in shock. _Okay, now this is going too far._ "Help," Melissa repeated in that eerie voice. "I need your help. Please. I don't know what to do. Scary things are after me at night and I can't stop them. Please help me. Please…" the other girl's voice faded away. Melissa sat up, a little disoriented. "Uh, what just happened?"

Rex looked at her in utter disbelief. "You practically fell to the ground out cold and then started talking in some other girl's voice!" _Gee, Rex, ever think to soften that up a bit? If you ever said that to me, I'd think you'd gone off the deep end. _

"Um, Rex, I think you'd just went off the deep end," said Melissa as she tried to stand up. Dess shook her head. _Like I said, who needs Melissa? My gut is golden._

Rex still looked shocked, but he decided to let it go for now. "Are you feeling better?" Melissa nodded in reply. "Thank God," he whispered. Then he started rambling like a baby. "I didn't know what was going on and I was so worried that you were hurt and I freaked out…."

Dess rolled her eyes. "Rex, shut up," she snapped. "Melissa's fine, you're fine, I'm fine, the lovebirds are fine, chill, will you?" Dess rubbed her temples; all the excitement was giving her a monstrous headache. "Can we get down to business so I can make some more weapons or do you suggest that we go into the blue time tonight totally and completely unarmed and at the mercy of evil little slithers?"

"Alright, Dess, we get the point," said Melissa. _Ah, the bitch goddess has returned._ However, Dess was still worried. _How and why did she just faint and blank out like that? Something's up and my gut tells me it's something bad._

Author's PS- Good so far? I hope so. Reviews welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

Thirteen Isn't Just A Lucky Number

Disclaimer: Am I Scott Westerfeld? No. So do I own anything in the Midnighters Trilogy? No. Glad to know the transitive property works in literature.

Author's Note: Thanks to charmed-freak292 for the reviews. I know it has been a bit since I updated this story, but I assure all of you that I have not forgotten about it. Enjoy! (The bold and italics indicate writing.)

**Ch. 3**:

Soon after Melissa woke up, Jess and Jonathan returned. They both were so relieved that Melissa was alright that Dess thought she would die of a happiness overdose.

"Can we please get started with this meeting? I really need to get more steel pronto," Dess said. "Or, if you all have a death wish, we can all just keep being happy for the rest of the day."

"Okay, Dess, we get it," said Jonathan. "Your sarcasm can cut slithers."

"Nope, only 'Sarcastically' can."

Jonathan grinned at Dess's retort, but he soon stopped after he saw Rex's glare. They all arranged themselves in a circle and a few moments of silence passed between them. _Who bets Rex is going to start? I do._

"Well," said Rex, "the first thing is to find out why the darklings are becoming more aggressive in the blue time." _Who's right? I'm so right. Twenty bucks to Dess, please._

Jonathan responded first. "Perhaps they're bored and want to take us on for something to do. Hell, if I was around for thousands of years stuck in the blue time, I'd get pretty bored myself."

"I don't think you're right, Jonathan," said Jess. Everyone focused their attention on her. "Remember when I first came here and the darklings started attacking everyone more often? And in places where they never would go before? I think we have a new Midnighter on our hands and the darklings don't like it one bit."

"I think Jess is right," said Dess. "I mean, Melissa just went all unconscious and different-voice-y. That says something right there. Perhaps that new Midnighter somehow managed to contact the nearest Midnighter for help?"

"Perhaps, Dess, but remember, whoever contacted Melissa has very little knowledge of the blue time or of other Midnighters. She, based on the sound of the voice, referred to the darklings as 'scary things.' Who is to say that she knows who Midnighters are?" Rex paused. "We better find her fast, especially since she said that the darklings are after her."

"I agree," said Melissa. "If she wasn't that desperate for help, why would she have contacted us, even if she didn't do so on purpose? Her fear and confusion might have been so great that she contacted us with knowing it. We better go find her."

"Okay, it's settled, then." Rex stood up. "We will meet back here fifteen minutes before the blue time and have Melissa cast for another Midnighter. Meeting dismissed." Rex helped Melissa, who was still a little shaky, to her car while Jess and Jonathan started walking off to her house. _I absolutely love how I am the fifth wheel here._ Dess jogged back to her bike. _Better get that steel. It's already 1:30. _Dess swung her leg over her bike and started pedaling like a monster slither was after her. After about twenty minutes of pedaling (which actually felt like an eternity to Dess, who didn't exactly have a ton of patience), Dess reached the dump.

She left her bike discreetly by a clump of bushes. Okay, Dess, you know what to do. She slunk around the outer fence, double-triple-quadruple-and-quintupled checked for anyone who could see her, and then deftly climbed up the fence and over the other side. Dess started rummaging through the first pile. _Ewwww, I could really use gloves for this._ And then, like magic, two gloves appeared by her side. Dess stopped, stunned. _Whoa, that's cool. Now I could use an ax to cut any huge piece of metal and a chisel to carve the protective runes._ Then, again like magic, a gleaming ax and chisel were by her left foot. _Okay, this is getting to be a little freaky right now. How did all of this suddenly appear right here?_ Suddenly, she thought she saw a flash of a black coat out of the corner of her eyes. _A black coat?_ _Who in their right mind would wear a black coat in the SUMMER? He or she must really want a heat stroke._ Putting the two incidents out of her mind as best she could, Dess continued fumbling through the pile of refuse for the next two hours.

After digging through some really horrible, smelly stuff, Dess finally was satisfied with her haul. _Okay, let's see, I got three hubcaps, twenty Campbell's Soup cans, about sixty nails, two C-clamps, and four saw blades. Plus I even get some fiber optic strands and a platinum ring, which will totally kick ass with a thirty-nine-letter name. And the saw blades will put some more bite into those slithers. That's pretty good, considering I was in a rush. _Dess then realized that she didn't have a bag to carry them home. _Shit! I wish I brought one of those heavy-duty trash bags we have at home._ Then, again, a trash bag just like the one she had imagined was before her feet.

Dess began getting a creepy-crawly feeling that was inching up her spine. _This is getting very weird very fast. There is no way in hell that three things that I wished for would turn up in the next minute. The probability of that is so small that I am not even going to bother to calculate it. Something's wrong and I better go tell the others now._ She hastily put all her things into the garbage bag, heaved it over the fence, and then got herself over as well. As she dropped to the ground, she thought she saw a face out of the corner of her mind. She lifted her head up and saw two black eyes staring back.

Dess was surprised she didn't have a coronary from the shock. The boy – judging from his face, he looked to be about 17 or 18 years old – had a neutral expression on his face. His black hair was shaggy and falling in his face. He had a lip ring off to the left corner of his mouth. He wasn't very tan, but he wasn't pale as a ghost, a characteristic that all the Midnighters except Jess had. His eyes never left Dess's frightened ones.

Dess was frantically trying to figure whether he was hostile or friendly. _Well, if he is friendly, he has an odd way of showing it._ Suddenly, she glanced at something on his neck. _A tattoo, I bet._ After she shifted her eyes slightly to get a better look, they widened as she saw what the tattoo was: a 12, in bold ink on his neck.

_Holy God, is he going to kill me?_ Dess was so scared that she couldn't even think straight. Suddenly, the teenager rose and was gone in the blink of an eye. _What the – how did he do that?_ Then she looked down again and saw something that she will never forget in her life.

_**Hello, Midnighter. I've been waiting for you.**_

Author's PS- Good? I hope so. Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.


	4. Chapter 4

Thirteen Isn't Just a Lucky Number

Disclaimer: Nope, I own nothing. As per usual. Really, I swear, I own nothing.

Author's Note: I am so sorry I have not updated in the longest time. I just found the trilogy again at my college bookstore and I swear to God I had a spaz attack because I was so excited. I brought the first two books and I am now presently 60 pages into the first one again, so my passion for the series just flared up again and I got hit with a bolt of inspiration to continue writing this story again. Alright, enough of my blathering – here is the long-overdue update. Thanks to all who read and reviewed (Cute-Circ, tukatarina, Grand Puba of All The Smurfs, SoloMoon, Shaenie Cullen, Amivera, and daredevil-d).

**Ch. 4**:

**Hello, Midnighter. I've been waiting for you.**

Those words made Dess's blood shoot ice-cold in her veins. Her heart rate increased and her forehead suddenly became damp with sweat. _Oh no…_

**Hello, Midnighter. I've been waiting for you.**

Dess whirled away from those hideously black words on the pavement, focusing only on one thing – getting the hell away from the dump and from those two sentences seared into the sidewalk. She threw herself onto the bike, grabbed her haul (quite an awkward maneuver since she was already on the bike), and pedaled like mad. She was so busy escaping – why she used the word 'escaping' she didn't know – that she didn't notice two mysteriously sad, sinister eyes following her retreating back….

Dess literally flew into her house, slamming the door and locking it as fast she could. Utterly exhausted, she sank to the floor in her room, breathing hard. _What happened? Who is he? Why did he do that? Why didn't he kill me? How did he do that?_ Dess's mind was a tornado of questions. "Okay, Dess, you need to pull yourself together and name these items. We all need them so we can fight the darklings." _And doing this will get your mind off of what happened. And off that boy…_

"Allegorically Extraordinary Hybridization." _Okay, that's perfect for one of the hubcaps._ "Illustrations." _For that Campbell Soup can._

"Monochromatic."

"Arachnophobia."

_Crap. This isn't working. I can't get my mind off of him. _Dess sat back against the wall and let her mind wander back to her encounter with the Mysterious Stranger, which she had now dubbed him. _Now what am I going to do?_ Little did she know those sad eyes were watching her again, both now donning a cunning glimmer.

**Hello, Midnighter. **

Dess froze. It was like she both heard, felt, and saw the words at the same time. They were like a whisper licking her ears seductively, passing through her brain and trying to take her under their spell. They felt like a silk ribbon caressing her body as they slithered like a black river of ink down her arm and leg. They were spindly black letters twisted into cursive shapes, appearing on the floor in front of her. At this point, Dess couldn't breathe. She felt like she was drowning.

**I've been waiting for you**. Another whisper, another shiver.

**I've been watching you. **Dess could not even come up with a snarky comment about how creepy that was.

**You're the one I need. And I will stop at nothing to have you. **Terror rocketed through her nerves. Her alarm bells in her brain started ringing. Adrenaline pumped through her body. Never had she felt so helpless.

**Beware, my polymath. I will come for you. And when I do, you will submit to me. **Dess felt the words almost squeezing her brain, like they were trying to make her obey and succumb to their conjurer.

**I will always be there, watching you. You are never alone. Farewell, Desdemona.** The black letters retreated from the floor, back up Dess's body, and away. If letters could laugh, Dess swore she heard a low, sly laughter.

After about thirty seconds, she jumped up, grabbed her haul, and ran out the door, searching desperately for the Mysterious Stranger. _I must find him. I need to find out why he wants me._ She saw nothing. _Hold on, that black coat._ She whipped around only to see a hint of that black coat swishing behind a pine. "Wait –"

But the coat had disappeared. Still, Dess ran to the tree. She checked – nothing. She turned back and saw the coat again, this time disappearing behind a tall oak. "Wait, please!" She ran to the oak, looping her arm around the trunk so she would turn faster. Unfortunately, that torque made her run smack into a very hard chest. A chest, once she got a quick look at, that was covered in a black coat.

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, going looking for him._ Arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly. Arms that weren't going to let her go. _Crap. You're really bright, Dess. Really. You should go for a prize._

The Mysterious Stranger let out a low chuckle. Dess heard the vibrations from within his chest. She didn't like how sultry it sounded.

"Hello, my dear." Dess shuddered. He laughed again. _His laughter sounds…so beautiful._

"Don't call me dear, you little creep." He just laughed at her again, causing Dess to tremble slightly. "Who are you? Why are you here? And most of all, why do you want me?"

"Slow down, my precious little polymath. You will find out in due time. Until then, just know I'll be watching you." The arms holding her tightly suddenly evaporated and Dess looked up, startled.

"Wait, I don't even know your name!" She just barely caught the swish of his black coat before he disappeared.

She needed to think, to calm down, to breathe. _I'll just go to behind the school with my haul, finish naming everything, and fill everyone in on what happened. That's it. Just relax, Dess. He'll get out of your thoughts soon enough._ She got her bike and haul and began to pedal.

She heard his low, maddeningly beautiful laughter all the way to the high school.

PS- How did you all like it? Reviews welcome.


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